It's gonna be one of those weeks I guess. Under the fear of jinxing it, I had held off posting here that I had fully paid offand therefore officially own the PC. It's when you breathe a sigh of relief that the unexpected happens, right? So I haven't exhaled all the way just yet.

Well, it's been acting weird lately. I get this weird CMOS error before Windows starts up. It asks me to set the system date because somehow it forgot it. So I called the dealer and they told me that it's possible that the hardware issue might be related to the motherboard's battery not working - or worse, a bad hard drive that might need replacement. Fortunately it has a one year warranty for those parts. Who would have thought that my livelihood would depend on a piece of machinery? Of course I was just as dependent on a computer at my last job, but the IT guys would take care of it. So whenever it does these kinds of things, it worries me to no end.

The guy that put my PC together has been supportive enough. I've been confiding all my technical woes with him and he's well aware that I use it for work. I had him look at it when the computer was resetting more often than I was comfortable with. It honestly didn't do much good, but he did take the time to hear me out and put me at ease. It makes me a bit guilty when I think about my own job, where I basically just brush my off callers and feign concern/sympathy. Well, it's not like I can really do anything beyond taking messages for angry callers. I'm not complaining though, just to be clear.

So the maid's gone AWOL for the past two days now. She didn't even bother to call and make a phony excuse not to show up for crying out loud. So mom-in-law (MIL) watched after Dan the whole day. While I'm at the subject, I would like to nominate her for The Most Selfless Person in The House award. I've been meaning to say that here for the longest time really. She has no life of her own, only for the others that live here. There is no her, only the things that she must do for everyone else. She basically pulls all the figurative weight here.

And at the opposite end of the spectrum is whiny boy, who doesn't really give a shit about anything else but himself. Who cares if I get along with him? I secretly hate his guts for assuming he's entitled to all the wonderful things he doesn't deserve. Dad-in-law should beat him within an inch of his life to snap him out of his self-absorbed trance. Ang kapal ng mukha talaga. Just because the food MIL prepared doesn't cater to his oh-so-discriminating palate, he says out loud, "ano ba yan, walang makain, peste, peste!" What pisses me off is that MIL tolerates his behavior. Nagpapahain pa ng pagkain. I wonder if his GF knows that his mommy has to fix him breakfast/lunch/dinner. Maybe he needs help having his ass washed after taking a crap as well.

I try to rationalize it by saying that she loves us all in her own way, and this is her way of showing it to him. Bunso kasi. Bah, why do I even needlessly huff and puff over it anyway? Can't avoid it I guess. Well, I'm just waiting for the day that she runs out of excuses for the selfish little prick. I don't say anything because it's not my place to do so. Sayang.

The main reason why I'm stressed out is because I only have one rest day this week and it's exam week for our students too. Aaand, our other tutor isn't coming tomorrow. We're gonna have our hands full tomorrow.

There are a lot of things I am and should be grateful for. For instance, when my team back at my last job was split into two divisions, I was assigned to the one that had day hours - as opposed to the other team that was permanently assigned to night shift. And now, this great opportunity falls into my lap which got me a second job that allows me to work out of home. And so on.

But is it wrong to want more? I know I have it way better than a whole lot of people out there. Lately, there's a lot of tension in the household...although i'm not involved, it bothers the hell out of me. I wish things would just get better. Can't everyone just get along?? I wish I could close my eyes and it would go away. Please God, make it stop.

I am so not in the mood today. a minute left for my break, and the calls are piling up.

Man, I know I'm supposed to write something a bit meaningful about the year that has come to pass, but I've had this pancake fixation for the longest time, it's not funny. Fourty-five minutes to go 'til my half hour lunch break. I wonder if I can whip up a batch in that time? Problem is, there's no syrup...and it wouldn't taste as great without it. Not that I've ever cooked pancakes that are anywhere close to what I've eaten at restaurants, or anybody else's cooking for that matter.